Day 9, Wednesday, June 3rd This was a long day of travel. Ferry ride to taxi ride to airport, where we loaded onto a small sea plane type vehicle. Then that plane made one stop before arriving on the island of Taveuni. Then shuttle ride about 45 minutes to our resort...yes, resort it was. The place was so big and white and clean with modern seating and hammocks. There was a pool and what we thought was a hot tub, but just a kiddie pool I suppose. Caitlin and I shared a room, since the hotel got rid of their dorms [View Full Entry]

---

---

Wowzas! What a great time I had in Fiji. I'm now in Byron Bay, Australia, but wanted to send over some updates. Internet was a little hard to come by, or a fast connection anyway, so I'll do my best to rehash the past for ya. It's been a whirlwind of fun. Day 1 (5/26): We travel about 22 hours from Austin, TX and arrive in Mana about 9 or 10am. Immediately we relax with a beer. Caitlin relaxes at our hostel's beachside picnic tables and I played volleyball. Immediately everyone is so welcoming and friendly. I met a super nice [View Full Entry]

---

---

May 30, 2008 - I can't believe I'm just now posting these pictures. The trip happened back in March, but it's taken me awhile to pic my top 200 pictures, to load all the pictures onto the site, tag them and rearrange. I would have just loaded them into Kodak Gallery or something, but I had already written this blog, so I didn't want it to go to waste! This is more of a blog site than a picture site, so I'll probably need to move to a different website that's easier for me to load so many pics onto - [View Full Entry]

---

---

The ride over to Milos was an interesting experience to say the least. We bought our tickets late, so there was only a slow speed boat available and “seats” on the cabin deck, really meant outside with no seats. There were a few plastic seats stacked in the corner, so Caitlin grabbed one and we tried to get a spot in the shade. I blew up the pillow part of the floatie I bought in Mykonos and laid down on the ground on it and tried to sleep. The boat was dirty and all the bathroom toilets had poop in them [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hi all! I'm back in the U.S. of A. Things have been crazy with work, and travelblog.org crashed right as I posted my last blog, so the first Greek Island we visited, Mykonos, will take me a little while to recover again. Until then, I've gone ahead and posted my Santorini blog. It was our second Greek Island and a great one at that. I think I wrote the text on the plane ride home. Please enjoy! July 21-24 - Santorini OH MY GOSH! Words cannot describe how amazing this place is. Thank you, Robin, for all your recommendations! I’m so [View Full Entry]

---

---

July 15-18 Amsterdam was perfect. We’d just come from chaotic Bastille Day/Paris, so it was a perfect spot to take a minute to relax and slow down. We arrived by train and found our hotel within walking distance. I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW EXCITED we were to be in a hotel room after weeks of hostels. It was simply AWESOME. I never thought I’d be so excited to stay in a hotel room. The location was great - very central, clean towels (a dry one all to myself since Caitlin and I had been sharing), there were helpful hands at the [View Full Entry]

---

---

July 6-9: LONDON Okay, so as everyone might have expected, the moving every three nights (from hostels none the less), has started to wear on Caitlin and I. That and the continuous, absolute non-stop walking has left our ankles swollen and angry with us. Even still, Caitlin and I have had some superior experiences in each major city. From Barcelona we headed to London. The weather was a bit dreary on the day we arrived, but the sky opened up for the rest of our time there. You would think arriving back into an English speaking country, we would not [View Full Entry]

---

---

Where oh where do I begin? So much fun has been had. The Palio Festival was a spectacle if I’ve ever seen one. The Sienese (or people who live in Siena) are soooo serious about this yearly horse race. There are 17 districts in Siena, each one with a chosen representative or rider who competes in the Palio Festival, held in the main plaza of Siena. Only 10 districts are chosen via lottery to compete, and over 40,000 people squeeze into the inner circle of where the horses race. The outer ring consists of old buildings which circle the plaza [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yesterday after the beautiful breakfast in Florence, we headed out to explore Florence a bit more before the train back to Milan. We climbed the 470 steps up to the top of the Duomo, which offered a great panoramic view of the city. The church was very detailed from the inside out. My favorite fresco so far was the “Last Judgment” spiraled onto the dome’s ceiling here, by Federico Zuccari and Giorgio Vasari. Then, we headed to see the David which was a bit chaotic, but within an hour we were inside viewing the huge sculpture by Michelangelo. Absolutely loved [View Full Entry]

---

---

June 27th, 2007 Amalfi is a happening place. While we’re here they are celebrating St. Andrews. Canons are fired up into the air from a boat in front of the port every morning and evening. This morning they started at 6:30 am and they were so loud, I swear my bed shook. It’s seriously insane how loud they are. Tonight there’s going to be fireworks and we’ve got a bottle of bubbly chilling in our mini-bar fridge for the celebration. We took a trip up to Ravello today. The town of music stands 360 meters above the ocean. The views [View Full Entry]

---

---